Seventeen infants all below one year died in a span of 36 hours starting Tuesday midnight at the state-run B C Roy Childrens Hospital,one of the largest referral paediatric centres in Kolkata triggering protests by relatives who alleged negligence. The state government has ordered a probe into the deaths. This is the same hospital where 14 children died in 2002 and another 17 children died in two days in 2006. The hospital authorities admitted the death of 12 infants till Wednesday midnight. On Thursday morning,another five infants died. All the babies were admitted between June 24 and June 30. Hospital Superintendent Dr Dilip Kr Pal said the infants were brought in a critical condition. The main reasons for the deaths are septicaemia,coupled with asphyxia,hypothermia and malnutrition. Two of them had heart ailments, said Pal. He,however,admitted that facilities were poor and that on an average,three-five infants died at the referral hospital everyday. Enraged relatives of the five infants who died on Thursday complained of negligence and misbehaviour and went on the rampage inside the hospital premises. They blocked the road in front of the hospital,disrupting traffic for nearly 30-40 minutes,before being dispersed by the police. Hospital authorities said there was no big loss or damage to property. The hospital has a history of child deaths,which were followed by violence and inquiry commissions every time. In 2002,there was furore at the hospital over the death of 14 children who died of bronco-pneumonia and gastro-enteritis. In 2006,another 17 children died in two days due to lung infection. Ordering an inquiry into the deaths,West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said health infrastructure under the Left rule had collapsed and these were the indications. She said nobody would be spared if any negligence is found. Stating that about 40,000 infants died in the state in 2009,Mamata said the states infant mortality rate was nearly 33 per cent the fourth place in the country after Kerala,Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The families of the children who died mostly belong to Chinsurah,Sandeshkhali,Midnapore,Malda and some suburbs of Kolkata. Abida Khatun,a relative of a dead infant,said nurses and doctors had been highly irresponsible and negligent. She alleged that a nurse slapped the mother of an infant. Many other relatives of patients also accused the hospital authorities of negligence. Principal Mrinal Kanti Chatterjee rebutted the allegations,saying the hospital served beyond its capacity of 350 beds every day.
